January 31, 2025 • 31 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 3 (01/31) - Mark Thompson fills in for John. More on the airline crash in DC. Michael Monks comes on the show to talk about the arrest of a suspect in the drone hitting a super scooper plane case. The Fire Aid concert took place last night. The Trump-proofing of California has been delayed.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I AM six forty. You're listening to the John Cobel
podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
KFI AM six forty were live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We carried the NTSB live press conference. As I say,
there wasn't a whole lot in terms of new revelations,
but they certainly reviewed what they will be looking at
black box, et cetera, communication between tower and both aircraft,
et cetera. And of course Debra is watching things should
(00:29):
anything break.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It was one of those press conferences where you know,
there are a lot of thanks at the front end
and they're trying to recognize all of the agencies, many
of which I think need recognition for responding. But you know, Debra,
there wasn't really any information. I didn't feel that there
was that we weren't already aware of.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
The only new information was the black box from the helicopter.
We already know that the black boxes from the American
Airlines jet were recovered.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And so that was that was new.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And you know, just talking about how more than one
hundred family members of the loved ones or in the
area and they're being briefed by officials. I guess about
the process of I mean, I can't even imagine what
they're being told and what they have to go through.
I mean, there's a process, the bodies have to be identified,
and then then there's a whole process that these people
(01:22):
have to go through. Oh god, it's so overwhelming to
think about that.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The sadness is compounded by so many details. You know,
the six members of that Boston skating club in the crew,
there were so many of these teenage figure skaters, their
mothers and do you.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Want to hear a freaky story. I was talking to
my high school best friend last night. She lives in Utah,
and I said, oh gosh, you know, what do you
think about? I mean, it's stupid to say what do
you think? But I brought up the mid air collision
and she's really busy, and she said, you know, I
did not hear.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I said, what are you talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
It's the biggest story. But anyway, for whatever reason, and
she's busy, she works a lot, so something kind of
clicked in her brain. She said, oh, my gosh, I
got a text in the middle of the night from
my kind of an aunt of hers and she said,
oh my god, I think my aunt may have lost
her son. So she's like, hold on, She's looking through
her text. It turns out that her aunt's son was
(02:24):
supposed to be on that flight but last minute didn't
go on. But his friend was a flight attendant and
was killed on that flight.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So here we are.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
You know, I'm bringing this up assuming she knew. She
had no idea. She remembers it. In the middle of
the night, she got some text. She was so busy
she forgot to look at the text, and that I
did talk to her today, and of course everybody is degastrating.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh my god, yes, devastated. That is bizarre. I mean
that you basically your conversation got her to focus on
text she'd received.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
In the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I mean, the weird thing that's in that story was
also played out with the other story of is it
Shishkova and Naumov, the two skaters, they were the world
champion skaters right there, are now coaches and they've coached
all of these wonderful young people in this sport that
(03:15):
they love so much. And their son, who is a
former US junior champion. He I believe wasn't on the flight.
Isn't that right?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Was not on that flight. Yeah, you know, again there's
a camp there where they're doing work and preparing for competitions,
and I guess he left early, that is to say,
Monday instead of Wednesday. And it's again one of those things,
not so unlike the story that you relate, where you
(03:51):
know people who might have been on the flight where
circumstances different weren't.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
So I can't imagine how that would feel because I've
never had been in a situation like that, but I
know lots of people have they would have been in
a you know, in a flight or some other tragedy
if maybe if they were if they left their house
five minutes earlier or later or what I mean. We
hear all those stories, but it's I can't imagine what
(04:19):
you go through when you're one of those people, knowing
that you could have been you could have been on
that flight.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I mean, I think the highest profile sort of Hollywood,
if you'll pardon the expression, story associated with one of
those I was supposed to be on that flight type
situation is Seth MacFarlane. You know who was supposed to
be on that flight out of Boston on nine to eleven,
right right, He slept late and didn't get to the
airport in time, and that's what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
And I think a twelve year old was the youngest
on the plane that died.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I think it was.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, I don't think anybody younger than twelve, But there
was a twelve year.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Old that I know.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
I mean, I don't know sure I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You know, she was on board. Yeah, I mean there
were a lot of these young skaters, teenagers, and you know,
those right on the brink of being a teenager, like
you know, twelve year old. This is a it's a tragedy.
Thoroughly before we broke for the NTSB press conference, who
were playing a bit of a report from an NBC
reporter who spoke to the husband of one of the
(05:25):
victims who had been texting with his wife. I guess
she had said, we're going to land here in twenty minutes.
And you could tell even as he was speaking that
the the intensity of it all, you know, you know,
they talk about the stages of grieving, et cetera, you know,
and one of them is denial, and on whatever level,
(05:47):
we all play out different ways in which we grieve
or process that information, this loss clearly hadn't, at least
based on his tone, hit him yet the way it
likely will. But here's a little bit of what he
was saying.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
She texted me that she said we're landing in twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
That was the last thing Kamad Rosa heard from his
wife osra Hussein, and by the time he arrived at
Reagan National Airport less than a half hour later, he
realized something was very wrong.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
So I was waiting and I saw I started seeing
a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way
too many than normal. And two my texts weren't going through.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Razo watching the massive response from Terminal two as one
hundreds of first responders.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Race to the rescue.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Osra Hussein was one of sixty four people on board
American Airlines Flight fifty three forty two that collided with
the military helicopter as an approached DCA Wednesday night. Rosa
says she was in Wichita for work and never made
it home.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
It's it's just feels crazy that it happened to us,
to be honest, I mean, it's like you see these
things happen, and then news you see him happen in
other countries, and then I show up to the airport
and my wife's not responding, and I look on Twitter
and I see that it's her flight.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We caught up with him briefly before you went to
the command center for grieving families. In the hours following
the crash, he says he's been surrounded by loved ones
who are all devastated by this tragic and unexpected loss.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Hindest person I've ever met. She went above and beyond
and then took a giant leap over that, you know,
when it came for doing things for other people, for me,
for her parents, for my parents.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Roza says they met in college in Indiana, and now,
just two years after their wedding, he has to play
her funeral.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I'm gonna wait for a phone call, I think, to
see when we can go pick her up.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And while he waits for that call, what would you
like people to understand or at least know as they
try and support your.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Life is short. Hug your loved ones, tell them you
love them. When they're getting on a flight, check up
on them, Text your family when you land.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And Roza says he wants to thank all of those
first responders. He says he can't st us how grateful
he is for everything they've done.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well. I mean, imagine going to the airport. You've just
texted your wife, you're a loved one, they've said will
be there landing in twenty minutes, and you arrive at
the airport and they're all of these police and fire
vehicles that he described, first responders, emergency teams. I mean,
it's just chilling.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
I mean, and I was talking to John about this yesterday.
It's such a kind of a relief when you're about
to land, because I mean, I'm always afraid to fly,
so I'm so excited when I'm about to land. And
here you had all these people that are probably you know,
I'm sure there were some people that were, oh, great,
we're landing. We're landing, and the people that are coming
(08:43):
to pick them up are excited and know that they're
going to most likely be safe because they're landing in
just a few minutes. I mean, this happened just a
few minutes before they were expected to touch the ground
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I mean, that was which is what makes this all
even more difficult to understand. It was really a final approach.
So we'll learn more, but for now it is sadly
reflecting on this tragic end for so many. Hey, when
we come back. One of the big moments in fighting
(09:16):
the fires in southern California came when that Super Scooper
was hit by that drone plan. Remember it took it
out a commission for several days, right at the beginning
of the period during which those Super Scoopers were able
to put a dent in the fire. Well, they finally
got the guy who's drone it was, and we'll have
(09:37):
that story and what's happening to him next. It's KFI
AM six forty. This is the co Belt Show, John
Away today, Mark Thompson sitting in on KFI. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It was a moment that we all were blown away by.
Finally we got that Super Scooper up in the air
alongside the other Super Scooper and it was taken out
of commission quite quickly because a drone, an illegally flown
drone hit it and forced it to land, and it
was out of commission for several days while that drone
(10:18):
pilot was found, and Michael Monks is here to tell
us what's happened to him.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
Not just found, but prosecuted and agreed to plead guilty
to one federal charge that could see him in federal
prison for up to a year.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Though that's up to a year, yeah, talking about people
lost their homes over this.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
I suppose that the nature of the statute limits how
much penalty this guy could get. He may not see
any jail time at all, but he's not going away
scott free. He has to pay for the damage that
he did. He's already agreed to do that, according to
federal prosecutors. Now, let's just take it back to where
this happened. Right at the beginning of the Palisades Fire,
these super scoopers swooped in when condition allowed the fires
(11:01):
to be attacked from the air. Remember, we weren't able
to do that and the opening moments of these fires,
and finally we were able to and almost immediately one
of these bad boys had to come out of commission
because it had collided with a drone And so we
had several days of warnings from law enforcement that people
were still doing it. Please stop flying your drones near
(11:22):
these aircraft.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Well, it was more than a please. It was illegal
at that time.
Speaker 7 (11:25):
Exactly, you're not supposed to have them there. You can
face charges. This proves that that is absolutely possible, because
it has now happened. This is a guy named Peter Ackman,
and so when the fires were going on, he went
down to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, found
himself a spot in the parking garage there and launched
his drone to get a good aerial view of what
(11:46):
was burning over in the Palisades. Now, think about the
distance from the Palisades and the Third Street Promenade in
Santa Monica. You can see the fire pretty handily. But
the conditions in the air and the smoke made it
such that this vanished from mister Ackerman's site. He lost
sight of his drone and unfortunately it drifted into and
(12:07):
collided with those one of those aircrafts that we call
a superscooper, and this is one that our friends in Quebec,
Canada had sent down to help us fight this fire. Absolutely,
it caused a three by six inch hole and it
had to come down naturally, So we lost one of
these vital tools during that firefighting period and it had
to be repaired over the course of several days to
(12:28):
the tune of about sixty five thousand dollars. So he's
going to pay that. That's what he's agreed to pay
the government of Quebec, as well as the repair place.
I don't know where you take a super scooper for
such a repair. I don't know if it's just you know,
the mechanic shop down the street.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh what, pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
They did it quickly, and this guy's supposedly going to
pay for it. He also has agreed to one hundred
and fifty hours of community service in support of the
wildfire recovery effort. Now, prosecutors I think have suggested that
he might not do time, but a judge will ultimately
decide that when he is sent and informally pleads guilty.
He's only agreed to plead guilty so far, and the
(13:04):
statute would allow that story.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And this is all being informed by a lot of
statutory limitations. But let me just ask you. So he
has to pay for the damage he did, but there's
no other financial penalty attached to this. No, that's crazy, Yeah,
it's crazy. So he may do no jail time, likely
won't do any jail time. I'm guessing first defender, et cetera.
(13:27):
And he'll do this community service. He writes a check.
I'm not saying it's nothing. That's a lot of money,
but there's no other financial penalty associated with this.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
No fines have been announced by federal prosecutors. Sixty five
thousand dollars in restitution. That's not small change, no, but
it is to cover something that is direct, you know,
a direct result of Dadam. Yeah, he's basically like receiving
the bill for the damage that you did with no
heightened penalty, and then some hours of community service in
support of it. I suppose it's rather embarrassing. He wasn't
(13:58):
supposed to be over there doing this. You were not
supposed to have drones flying near these aircraft that were
fighting these fires. And he did it anyway, did exactly
what everybody hoped doesn't happen if you violate the law
to begin with, and that is to cause an accident
that put an aircraft out of commission. So I imagine
he's quite embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Also, well, I mean, I'm sure it's embarrassing, and maybe
there's some reputational damage. You know that you do because
people know your name and they know you were behind it.
But man, I think he he got lucky. I mean this,
we've got to step up these statutes, we really do.
That's outrageous to think that it caused a hole in aircraft.
Fortunately it was small. Now I don't know what that means.
You know, it was three by six. I mean how
(14:36):
bad can that be? Couldn't be catastrophic for all I know.
I mean I don't know what happens in the air well.
And the other thing is that this is what happened
this time, right exactly. You know, the next time it
may actually bring an aircraft down, no question about that.
And keep in mind, his community service is in direct
support of wildfire recovery. So imagine doing this crime and
showing up in the Palisades to sweep some streets or
(14:58):
to help some people move debris off their property. That
might be awkward. Yeah, well, I mean if they know
that you're the yeah, right right, I mean I.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Don't know if it's aware a scarlet Yeah, there should
be a sEH for drone.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It should be a scarlet letter. It is outrageous. It
is outrage I mean, I don't know. I'm I'm gonna
lock him up, thrower at the key guy. So maybe
I'm the wrong guy to ask, But man, I just
think that too many people skate on stuff that is
just deadly serious, like this very serious and this drone
pilot for example. I would have also liked to have
seen some kind of edict from the bench saying you
cannot own a drone for the next ten years.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
I mean, while he has not gone before the judge yet,
so we'll have to see, like he has not been
formally sentencing, and it's not formally entered the plea. He
has only agreed to prosecutors recommendation to plead guilty.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, I don't know how much latitude those judges have
and that sort of thing. Anyway, Michael Monks, thank you
so much. Pleasure, great stuff. Yeah, so that is the
end of the drone story for now. Anyway. It's a
John Cobalt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in for John on
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
John Cobelt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in that iHeart Radio
app was blazing last night. I was bouncing between Moe
Kelly's show on KFI. He was sharing bits of the
concert downtown on his show, and then I flipped over
to the music stations. You know, the ALT was covering it,
(16:25):
and Kiss FM was covering it. It was across the iHeartRadio network,
and then it was televised on Hulu. I'm guessing that
content is still there. But it was an extraordinary concert
and it was really great the way in which so
many performers, I mean, you know what it's like to
get a concert together. I mean just you know, we've
(16:47):
read and have heard stories about the demands of different artists.
There are so many pieces that have to come together
for there literally to be a basic concert with an
opening act and a main event, a headliner. But imagine headliner, headliner,
a headliner, a headliner, nothing but headliners, wall to wall
(17:08):
headliners in two venues. Yeah, you saw right.
Speaker 8 (17:12):
Yeah, I watched it, and you're like, you're just talking
about the logistics in all the behind the scenes stuff
that's going on. As someone who works concerts for iHeart
all the time, I couldn't even imagine trying to put
this together, the two venues, having to deal with who
gets what dressing room, who gets to go to catering,
when who hits the red carpet, when just having to
(17:35):
deal with all of the logistics and and all of
the big names. I can't even imagine what that ordeal
was like for the organizers themselves.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It's such a good point. I hadn't thought of that.
There's the little stuff, which is like what size dressing
room people have, or what dressing room have they have,
or if they even have a dressing room exactly. I mean,
you had so many people and so many bands, so
many artists, you had to have tons of mobile homes
and trailers set up there, and as you suggest, the
(18:03):
logistics overwhelming had to be handled in a very short time.
Speaker 8 (18:08):
Well, and for instance, like the Nirvana reunion, they had
four different people fill in for Kurt Cobain, So it's
like just organizing that one set itself had to have
been quite the task.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, you know, it's funny the rehearsal time, and didn't
even think of that until we just started speaking. I
mean that had to be something as well. I mean
it was put together in a matter of weeks. That's
the biggest point. Just a difficult task to be polite
about it, I mean herculian task to get it all going,
(18:43):
and somehow it not only when Here's the thing I
was expecting. I was expecting her to be like long gaps.
If you go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl
or wherever, you know, I mean, you know, the Greek
or even if you're you know, you're downtown and all
the different truvado or whatever. Once an act is done,
(19:03):
there's a shutdown so they can bring in, you know,
new instruments. They tweak the right that, they tweak all
the sound.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
Yeah, and with the with this stage, I thought was
really cool is the rotating stages. You can have one
band setting up for the next set while the other
performers are actually performing live on stage. I see, and
I think what the the organizers did and the production
company did that was really cool and really cool for
(19:31):
the viewers at home. Was a lot of the video
packages they put in between the acts to set up
for whoever was about to introduce the next act.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, that it That does help explain how it smoothed out.
But it's funny they didn't always run a video package
between acts. No, it was that was that was extraordinary
to me. Then and you know, Stevie Nix would perform
and then she just at the end of two songs,
she'd you know, introduced Joan Jet or something, and I
was crazy.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
No, it really was quite seamless how it looked, at
least to the viewers' eyes. I can only imagine the
organized chaos that was going on backstage.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Oh, you know, I used to do a lot of
big awards show announced like, you know, ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome Doctor Dre that kind of stuff, And it's
kind of a pain to do live announce because you
have to go through the rehearsals except and it's not harder.
I mean, you just it's it's it's not an issue.
(20:31):
But I guess I'm getting to is the reason music
shows are so great and I didn't mind doing those,
is because the rehearsals are the best part. You get
to see you know, everyone from you know, Usher to
Madonna to Gwen Stefani to Nirvana actually performing in you know,
a much more casual way in the dress rehearsal or
(20:53):
even in just the regular rehearsal but there's a lot
of rehearsal time and the idea somehow that all these
acts came together and there was no rehearsal or no
rehearsal that we know about. I mean that you know,
the venue was tied up, I think, wasn't it. Maybe
they rehearsed a bit during the day.
Speaker 8 (21:09):
They might, they might have rehearsed off site somewhere at
different locations, but to my knowledge, there wasn't really a
concise start of the show to end of the show rehearsal.
It's like everybody probably rehearsed their own sets once they
found out they were performing. Sure, but yeah, no to
do a whole run of show like that, I don't
think they had much time to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And I just remember also just from sitting in on
those rehearsals, as I say, the challenge for the sound people,
for the director. You know, there's a lot of video
and the director has to know where they're going. He's
got lyrics to their songs, he's got you know, and
I say he it's men women directing and ad ing
(21:49):
all of these shows. And it's a mountain of those people.
I mean, it's an army of production people to involved,
so all of that came together and it was really miraculous.
I mean in media terms, it was miraculous what they did.
And in the end, it was over five hours and
it's still up there, I think, and it's totally worth
(22:10):
a watch. You will enjoy it. And most importantly, they
raised a tremendous amount of money for communities desperate for
financial help. We've seen these communities that devastated by fire
find themselves searching for answers, insurance companies less than cooperative.
It's a very tough time in southern California. And I
(22:32):
thought it was a triumphant night. And congratulations to iHeart,
to all of the artists involved, and to everyone who
made it happen. It really was something. So is Conway's
in it for? Is you now you'll be through maybe
at some point here in the next human that's I'll
also tell you that there's been a delay in the
trump proofing of California. You know, there was always that
(22:55):
smack talking about how we're gonna we're gonna trump proof
the state. That has taken a pause. I'll tell you
more about that next. Mark Thompson here for John Cobelt
and KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Everybody's been so supportive here, you know, Ray and Eric
and the crew, really good stuff today. Thanks for all
the support. I did want to mention this is kind
of a big deal because there was much made as
you're aware of the fact that California Democrats, who control
Sacramento in the legislature, we're ready to approve a fifty
million dollar basically a fund to anticipated lawsuits against the
(23:43):
Trump administration. It was going to fund legal defenses for
immigrants facing deportation. This is a really high profile effort
when it was announced. But when members of the State
Assembly gathered Yesay morning, the Democrats apparently got into a
private huddle for about forty five minutes and when they
(24:06):
got out they didn't want to vote on the proposal. Yeah,
the State Senate approved the plans last week. Democrats have
said for months that the funding package is urgent, but
apparently there's a delay. A spokesperson for the Democratic Assembly
Speaker Robert Reeves, said that lawmakers need more time. They
(24:30):
need to figure out this sweeping spending freeze that was
attempted earlier this week by the new administration. That's causing
widespread confusion and chaos, even after the federal judge who
reviewed the plan paused it. That was the freeze that
was paused. And now the White House has rescinded the
freeze memo but says that the policies the White House
(24:51):
is saying this behind its proposed funding cuts remain in place.
I'm laughing because it's so utterly confusing that they put
this completely confusing freezing place on Monday. These are the Feds,
these are the new Trump administration. Then it was so
confusing and there was so much pushback that they rescind
(25:12):
the memo. But when asked tobut I say, oh, yeah,
we took the memo back, but the policies that the
memo details, those are still very much in place. So
there is confusion about this. So the Democrats in Sacramento
were saying, well, it's because of that confusion that we
don't want to vote and approve this fund to essentially
handle legal defenses and prosecutions. So it's something of a
(25:37):
mess in Sacramento, at least around this issue. At least
around every other issue. There is no mess in Sacramento.
That's the nice news, right, So this is a to
be continued. And speaking of continuing, ding Dog, when this
show ends, that's right, that's where we crank it up.
(25:58):
The station continues with Tim Conway.
Speaker 9 (26:00):
Yeah, no more than no. No, John cole Belt on
demand at four o'clock. That doesn't work for me. No, No,
you're I stay right here, thank you, buddy. Yeah, hey,
we've got it. I'm monitoring a big plane crash in Philadelphia.
Aircraft reportedly went into a mall. They don't know if
it's a commercial jet, private jet, what kind of jet.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But it seems that we have another disaster. It is
troubling in the extreme. Yeah. They always talking about it
being in the safest way to travel.
Speaker 9 (26:29):
That's right, Yeah, and I feel that way when I'm traveling.
I fall asleep. I let the guys or gals in front.
Hopefully guys I knocked that out for me up there.
I don't worry about it at all. But this is weird,
right that the plane crash in Washington.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Was Thursday, Wednesday, Wednesday.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
Wednesday, and then the plane crash on Friday is in Philadelphia.
Both you know, teams play other less.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
We Oh, I was wondering, what was it? Wow? Kind
of an odd connection though, Wow, you know this is
the kind of insight that I'd hoped to get. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that aviation expert worked out. Yes, she had a really
good concentration. Patrick wil Right, Yeah, he's terrific. I what
you have today.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
I heard you talking about the concert last night with
Eric Sklar, the producer and board op of this program.
And I think the one detail that a lot of
people are leaving out.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I was at the we Are the World.
Speaker 9 (27:33):
I was at that taping, and everybody showed up and
left their ego at the door. They didn't care about
dressing rooms or where they were standing, or how many
people they brought and all, you know, the wardrobe, hair makeup.
They just all showed up to make money for a cause.
And I think a lot of that happened lest.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I think you're right. I mean it's really actually a
really good parallel. It's good energy that is going into it.
And I'd forgotten that you were at the Weird the World.
That's right.
Speaker 9 (27:59):
They they asked everybody, please don't dress the nines, Please
don't show with hair wardrobe, people, make up people. Uh please,
just you know, come as you are, maybe in sweats
or whatever. But let's just all be a family here
and make money for people who really need it. And
one guy shows up and ignored all the rules.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But he's think that was I'll give his nickname the Boss.
Seriously with Springsteen, Yeah Springsteen, he because he reps that
like he does not any makeup or that's why it
was so odd.
Speaker 9 (28:32):
Yeah, but the you know, they were raising money to
feed Africa and after remember you know you'd see those
videos all the time of these poor starving kids in Africa.
But I'm telling you the spread they had for that
taping could have fed half the country for a week.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
Well, I mean you have the continent for a week.
They worked all night and you were driving a limo,
that's right. Yeah, you were a critical part of getting
the performers there. And who was in your lima?
Speaker 9 (29:00):
Well, I was driving Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson, Well, wait
a minute to the Shrine Auditorium with a couple of
other guys for the big event. But on the way
from the Shrine Auditorium to Librea, the studios there, the
old Librea and Sunset Studios. I was driving his lawyer,
(29:20):
so I mean I drove him earlier. I drove Michael
Jackson several times, but technically I didn't drop him off there.
I dropped him off of the shrine and then somebody
else in our Limo group.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Right, Okay. I appreciate that you owned the specific so
you didn't want to like rep that you had actually
taken him to that particular session, but you'd taken him
in many other sessions.
Speaker 9 (29:39):
And I was, you know, I was twenty one, twenty
two years old, blonde, in pretty good shape. So I
think they wanted they didn't want lawsuits, so they wanted
to keep him away from I see.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Did he address you by name?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Ever?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Did he know your name? He did, but I don't know.
Speaker 9 (29:56):
I shouldn't say I know he did not I know
his mom did everybody in the family knew my name
because I drove them a lot. I drive him to
birthday parties. I drove her to work. I think is
their seventieth birthday party to Beverly Hills. She's a very
nice lady. Well that's really great. I just love that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It was a good time.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
So Alex Stone is coming on today, then Alex Michaelson,
Peter Greenberg, a travel detective, and then we'll talk to
him and also Jason Slacko about real estate, what's going
on with the insurance companies with all these fires.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The Conways Show, there's no stopping him. Here we go.
I have a great weekend, everybody. If you get a minute,
you can check out my show. It's on YouTube. It's
called The Mark Thompson Show. It's a lot of stuff,
and subscribe and yeah it's free. That's about the best
thing I can say for all. Right, Conway next, Thanks everyone,
Thanks again to Eric and all and until next time.
(30:51):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on five AM
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
I AM six forty. You're listening to the John Cobel
podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
KFI AM six forty were live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We carried the NTSB live press conference. As I say,
there wasn't a whole lot in terms of new revelations,
but they certainly reviewed what they will be looking at
black box, et cetera, communication between tower and both aircraft,
et cetera. And of course Debra is watching things should
(00:29):
anything break.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It was one of those press conferences where you know,
there are a lot of thanks at the front end
and they're trying to recognize all of the agencies, many
of which I think need recognition for responding. But you know, Debra,
there wasn't really any information. I didn't feel that there
was that we weren't already aware of.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
The only new information was the black box from the helicopter.
We already know that the black boxes from the American
Airlines jet were recovered.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And so that was that was new.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And you know, just talking about how more than one
hundred family members of the loved ones or in the
area and they're being briefed by officials. I guess about
the process of I mean, I can't even imagine what
they're being told and what they have to go through.
I mean, there's a process, the bodies have to be identified,
and then then there's a whole process that these people
(01:22):
have to go through. Oh god, it's so overwhelming to
think about that.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The sadness is compounded by so many details. You know,
the six members of that Boston skating club in the crew,
there were so many of these teenage figure skaters, their
mothers and do you.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Want to hear a freaky story. I was talking to
my high school best friend last night. She lives in Utah,
and I said, oh gosh, you know, what do you
think about? I mean, it's stupid to say what do
you think? But I brought up the mid air collision
and she's really busy, and she said, you know, I
did not hear.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I said, what are you talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
It's the biggest story. But anyway, for whatever reason, and
she's busy, she works a lot, so something kind of
clicked in her brain. She said, oh, my gosh, I
got a text in the middle of the night from
my kind of an aunt of hers and she said,
oh my god, I think my aunt may have lost
her son. So she's like, hold on, She's looking through
her text. It turns out that her aunt's son was
(02:24):
supposed to be on that flight but last minute didn't
go on. But his friend was a flight attendant and
was killed on that flight.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So here we are.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
You know, I'm bringing this up assuming she knew. She
had no idea. She remembers it. In the middle of
the night, she got some text. She was so busy
she forgot to look at the text, and that I
did talk to her today, and of course everybody is degastrating.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh my god, yes, devastated. That is bizarre. I mean
that you basically your conversation got her to focus on
text she'd received.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
In the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I mean, the weird thing that's in that story was
also played out with the other story of is it
Shishkova and Naumov, the two skaters, they were the world
champion skaters right there, are now coaches and they've coached
all of these wonderful young people in this sport that
(03:15):
they love so much. And their son, who is a
former US junior champion. He I believe wasn't on the flight.
Isn't that right?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Was not on that flight. Yeah, you know, again there's
a camp there where they're doing work and preparing for competitions,
and I guess he left early, that is to say,
Monday instead of Wednesday. And it's again one of those things,
not so unlike the story that you relate, where you
(03:51):
know people who might have been on the flight where
circumstances different weren't.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
So I can't imagine how that would feel because I've
never had been in a situation like that, but I
know lots of people have they would have been in
a you know, in a flight or some other tragedy
if maybe if they were if they left their house
five minutes earlier or later or what I mean. We
hear all those stories, but it's I can't imagine what
(04:19):
you go through when you're one of those people, knowing
that you could have been you could have been on
that flight.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I mean, I think the highest profile sort of Hollywood,
if you'll pardon the expression, story associated with one of
those I was supposed to be on that flight type
situation is Seth MacFarlane. You know who was supposed to
be on that flight out of Boston on nine to eleven,
right right, He slept late and didn't get to the
airport in time, and that's what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
And I think a twelve year old was the youngest
on the plane that died.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I think it was.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, I don't think anybody younger than twelve, But there
was a twelve year.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Old that I know.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
I mean, I don't know sure I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You know, she was on board. Yeah, I mean there
were a lot of these young skaters, teenagers, and you know,
those right on the brink of being a teenager, like
you know, twelve year old. This is a it's a tragedy.
Thoroughly before we broke for the NTSB press conference, who
were playing a bit of a report from an NBC
reporter who spoke to the husband of one of the
(05:25):
victims who had been texting with his wife. I guess
she had said, we're going to land here in twenty minutes.
And you could tell even as he was speaking that
the the intensity of it all, you know, you know,
they talk about the stages of grieving, et cetera, you know,
and one of them is denial, and on whatever level,
(05:47):
we all play out different ways in which we grieve
or process that information, this loss clearly hadn't, at least
based on his tone, hit him yet the way it
likely will. But here's a little bit of what he
was saying.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
She texted me that she said we're landing in twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
That was the last thing Kamad Rosa heard from his
wife osra Hussein, and by the time he arrived at
Reagan National Airport less than a half hour later, he
realized something was very wrong.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
So I was waiting and I saw I started seeing
a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way
too many than normal. And two my texts weren't going through.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Razo watching the massive response from Terminal two as one
hundreds of first responders.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Race to the rescue.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Osra Hussein was one of sixty four people on board
American Airlines Flight fifty three forty two that collided with
the military helicopter as an approached DCA Wednesday night. Rosa
says she was in Wichita for work and never made
it home.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
It's it's just feels crazy that it happened to us,
to be honest, I mean, it's like you see these
things happen, and then news you see him happen in
other countries, and then I show up to the airport
and my wife's not responding, and I look on Twitter
and I see that it's her flight.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We caught up with him briefly before you went to
the command center for grieving families. In the hours following
the crash, he says he's been surrounded by loved ones
who are all devastated by this tragic and unexpected loss.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Hindest person I've ever met. She went above and beyond
and then took a giant leap over that, you know,
when it came for doing things for other people, for me,
for her parents, for my parents.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Roza says they met in college in Indiana, and now,
just two years after their wedding, he has to play
her funeral.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I'm gonna wait for a phone call, I think, to
see when we can go pick her up.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
And while he waits for that call, what would you
like people to understand or at least know as they
try and support your.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Life is short. Hug your loved ones, tell them you
love them. When they're getting on a flight, check up
on them, Text your family when you land.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And Roza says he wants to thank all of those
first responders. He says he can't st us how grateful
he is for everything they've done.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well. I mean, imagine going to the airport. You've just
texted your wife, you're a loved one, they've said will
be there landing in twenty minutes, and you arrive at
the airport and they're all of these police and fire
vehicles that he described, first responders, emergency teams. I mean,
it's just chilling.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
I mean, and I was talking to John about this yesterday.
It's such a kind of a relief when you're about
to land, because I mean, I'm always afraid to fly,
so I'm so excited when I'm about to land. And
here you had all these people that are probably you know,
I'm sure there were some people that were, oh, great,
we're landing. We're landing, and the people that are coming
(08:43):
to pick them up are excited and know that they're
going to most likely be safe because they're landing in
just a few minutes. I mean, this happened just a
few minutes before they were expected to touch the ground
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I mean, that was which is what makes this all
even more difficult to understand. It was really a final approach.
So we'll learn more, but for now it is sadly
reflecting on this tragic end for so many. Hey, when
we come back. One of the big moments in fighting
(09:16):
the fires in southern California came when that Super Scooper
was hit by that drone plan. Remember it took it
out a commission for several days, right at the beginning
of the period during which those Super Scoopers were able
to put a dent in the fire. Well, they finally
got the guy who's drone it was, and we'll have
(09:37):
that story and what's happening to him next. It's KFI
AM six forty. This is the co Belt Show, John
Away today, Mark Thompson sitting in on KFI. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It was a moment that we all were blown away by.
Finally we got that Super Scooper up in the air
alongside the other Super Scooper and it was taken out
of commission quite quickly because a drone, an illegally flown
drone hit it and forced it to land, and it
was out of commission for several days while that drone
(10:18):
pilot was found, and Michael Monks is here to tell
us what's happened to him.
Speaker 7 (10:24):
Not just found, but prosecuted and agreed to plead guilty
to one federal charge that could see him in federal
prison for up to a year.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Though that's up to a year, yeah, talking about people
lost their homes over this.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
I suppose that the nature of the statute limits how
much penalty this guy could get. He may not see
any jail time at all, but he's not going away
scott free. He has to pay for the damage that
he did. He's already agreed to do that, according to
federal prosecutors. Now, let's just take it back to where
this happened. Right at the beginning of the Palisades Fire,
these super scoopers swooped in when condition allowed the fires
(11:01):
to be attacked from the air. Remember, we weren't able
to do that and the opening moments of these fires,
and finally we were able to and almost immediately one
of these bad boys had to come out of commission
because it had collided with a drone And so we
had several days of warnings from law enforcement that people
were still doing it. Please stop flying your drones near
(11:22):
these aircraft.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Well, it was more than a please. It was illegal
at that time.
Speaker 7 (11:25):
Exactly, you're not supposed to have them there. You can
face charges. This proves that that is absolutely possible, because
it has now happened. This is a guy named Peter Ackman,
and so when the fires were going on, he went
down to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, found
himself a spot in the parking garage there and launched
his drone to get a good aerial view of what
(11:46):
was burning over in the Palisades. Now, think about the
distance from the Palisades and the Third Street Promenade in
Santa Monica. You can see the fire pretty handily. But
the conditions in the air and the smoke made it
such that this vanished from mister Ackerman's site. He lost
sight of his drone and unfortunately it drifted into and
(12:07):
collided with those one of those aircrafts that we call
a superscooper, and this is one that our friends in Quebec,
Canada had sent down to help us fight this fire. Absolutely,
it caused a three by six inch hole and it
had to come down naturally, So we lost one of
these vital tools during that firefighting period and it had
to be repaired over the course of several days to
(12:28):
the tune of about sixty five thousand dollars. So he's
going to pay that. That's what he's agreed to pay
the government of Quebec, as well as the repair place.
I don't know where you take a super scooper for
such a repair. I don't know if it's just you know,
the mechanic shop down the street.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh what, pretty quickly.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
They did it quickly, and this guy's supposedly going to
pay for it. He also has agreed to one hundred
and fifty hours of community service in support of the
wildfire recovery effort. Now, prosecutors I think have suggested that
he might not do time, but a judge will ultimately
decide that when he is sent and informally pleads guilty.
He's only agreed to plead guilty so far, and the
(13:04):
statute would allow that story.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And this is all being informed by a lot of
statutory limitations. But let me just ask you. So he
has to pay for the damage he did, but there's
no other financial penalty attached to this. No, that's crazy, Yeah,
it's crazy. So he may do no jail time, likely
won't do any jail time. I'm guessing first defender, et cetera.
(13:27):
And he'll do this community service. He writes a check.
I'm not saying it's nothing. That's a lot of money,
but there's no other financial penalty associated with this.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
No fines have been announced by federal prosecutors. Sixty five
thousand dollars in restitution. That's not small change, no, but
it is to cover something that is direct, you know,
a direct result of Dadam. Yeah, he's basically like receiving
the bill for the damage that you did with no
heightened penalty, and then some hours of community service in
support of it. I suppose it's rather embarrassing. He wasn't
(13:58):
supposed to be over there doing this. You were not
supposed to have drones flying near these aircraft that were
fighting these fires. And he did it anyway, did exactly
what everybody hoped doesn't happen if you violate the law
to begin with, and that is to cause an accident
that put an aircraft out of commission. So I imagine
he's quite embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Also, well, I mean, I'm sure it's embarrassing, and maybe
there's some reputational damage. You know that you do because
people know your name and they know you were behind it.
But man, I think he he got lucky. I mean this,
we've got to step up these statutes, we really do.
That's outrageous to think that it caused a hole in aircraft.
Fortunately it was small. Now I don't know what that means.
You know, it was three by six. I mean how
(14:36):
bad can that be? Couldn't be catastrophic for all I know.
I mean I don't know what happens in the air well.
And the other thing is that this is what happened
this time, right exactly. You know, the next time it
may actually bring an aircraft down, no question about that.
And keep in mind, his community service is in direct
support of wildfire recovery. So imagine doing this crime and
showing up in the Palisades to sweep some streets or
(14:58):
to help some people move debris off their property. That
might be awkward. Yeah, well, I mean if they know
that you're the yeah, right right, I mean I.
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Don't know if it's aware a scarlet Yeah, there should
be a sEH for drone.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
It should be a scarlet letter. It is outrageous. It
is outrage I mean, I don't know. I'm I'm gonna
lock him up, thrower at the key guy. So maybe
I'm the wrong guy to ask, But man, I just
think that too many people skate on stuff that is
just deadly serious, like this very serious and this drone
pilot for example. I would have also liked to have
seen some kind of edict from the bench saying you
cannot own a drone for the next ten years.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
I mean, while he has not gone before the judge yet,
so we'll have to see, like he has not been
formally sentencing, and it's not formally entered the plea. He
has only agreed to prosecutors recommendation to plead guilty.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, I don't know how much latitude those judges have
and that sort of thing. Anyway, Michael Monks, thank you
so much. Pleasure, great stuff. Yeah, so that is the
end of the drone story for now. Anyway. It's a
John Cobalt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in for John on
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
John Cobelt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in that iHeart Radio
app was blazing last night. I was bouncing between Moe
Kelly's show on KFI. He was sharing bits of the
concert downtown on his show, and then I flipped over
to the music stations. You know, the ALT was covering it,
(16:25):
and Kiss FM was covering it. It was across the iHeartRadio network,
and then it was televised on Hulu. I'm guessing that
content is still there. But it was an extraordinary concert
and it was really great the way in which so
many performers, I mean, you know what it's like to
get a concert together. I mean just you know, we've
(16:47):
read and have heard stories about the demands of different artists.
There are so many pieces that have to come together
for there literally to be a basic concert with an
opening act and a main event, a headliner. But imagine headliner, headliner,
a headliner, a headliner, nothing but headliners, wall to wall
(17:08):
headliners in two venues. Yeah, you saw right.
Speaker 8 (17:12):
Yeah, I watched it, and you're like, you're just talking
about the logistics in all the behind the scenes stuff
that's going on. As someone who works concerts for iHeart
all the time, I couldn't even imagine trying to put
this together, the two venues, having to deal with who
gets what dressing room, who gets to go to catering,
when who hits the red carpet, when just having to
(17:35):
deal with all of the logistics and and all of
the big names. I can't even imagine what that ordeal
was like for the organizers themselves.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It's such a good point. I hadn't thought of that.
There's the little stuff, which is like what size dressing
room people have, or what dressing room have they have,
or if they even have a dressing room exactly. I mean,
you had so many people and so many bands, so
many artists, you had to have tons of mobile homes
and trailers set up there, and as you suggest, the
(18:03):
logistics overwhelming had to be handled in a very short time.
Speaker 8 (18:08):
Well, and for instance, like the Nirvana reunion, they had
four different people fill in for Kurt Cobain, So it's
like just organizing that one set itself had to have
been quite the task.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, you know, it's funny the rehearsal time, and didn't
even think of that until we just started speaking. I
mean that had to be something as well. I mean
it was put together in a matter of weeks. That's
the biggest point. Just a difficult task to be polite
about it, I mean herculian task to get it all going,
(18:43):
and somehow it not only when Here's the thing I
was expecting. I was expecting her to be like long gaps.
If you go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl
or wherever, you know, I mean, you know, the Greek
or even if you're you know, you're downtown and all
the different truvado or whatever. Once an act is done,
(19:03):
there's a shutdown so they can bring in, you know,
new instruments. They tweak the right that, they tweak all
the sound.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
Yeah, and with the with this stage, I thought was
really cool is the rotating stages. You can have one
band setting up for the next set while the other
performers are actually performing live on stage. I see, and
I think what the the organizers did and the production
company did that was really cool and really cool for
(19:31):
the viewers at home. Was a lot of the video
packages they put in between the acts to set up
for whoever was about to introduce the next act.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, that it That does help explain how it smoothed out.
But it's funny they didn't always run a video package
between acts. No, it was that was that was extraordinary
to me. Then and you know, Stevie Nix would perform
and then she just at the end of two songs,
she'd you know, introduced Joan Jet or something, and I
was crazy.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
No, it really was quite seamless how it looked, at
least to the viewers' eyes. I can only imagine the
organized chaos that was going on backstage.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Oh, you know, I used to do a lot of
big awards show announced like, you know, ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome Doctor Dre that kind of stuff, And it's
kind of a pain to do live announce because you
have to go through the rehearsals except and it's not harder.
I mean, you just it's it's it's not an issue.
(20:31):
But I guess I'm getting to is the reason music
shows are so great and I didn't mind doing those,
is because the rehearsals are the best part. You get
to see you know, everyone from you know, Usher to
Madonna to Gwen Stefani to Nirvana actually performing in you know,
a much more casual way in the dress rehearsal or
(20:53):
even in just the regular rehearsal but there's a lot
of rehearsal time and the idea somehow that all these
acts came together and there was no rehearsal or no
rehearsal that we know about. I mean that you know,
the venue was tied up, I think, wasn't it. Maybe
they rehearsed a bit during the day.
Speaker 8 (21:09):
They might, they might have rehearsed off site somewhere at
different locations, but to my knowledge, there wasn't really a
concise start of the show to end of the show rehearsal.
It's like everybody probably rehearsed their own sets once they
found out they were performing. Sure, but yeah, no to
do a whole run of show like that, I don't
think they had much time to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And I just remember also just from sitting in on
those rehearsals, as I say, the challenge for the sound people,
for the director. You know, there's a lot of video
and the director has to know where they're going. He's
got lyrics to their songs, he's got you know, and
I say he it's men women directing and ad ing
(21:49):
all of these shows. And it's a mountain of those people.
I mean, it's an army of production people to involved,
so all of that came together and it was really miraculous.
I mean in media terms, it was miraculous what they did.
And in the end, it was over five hours and
it's still up there, I think, and it's totally worth
(22:10):
a watch. You will enjoy it. And most importantly, they
raised a tremendous amount of money for communities desperate for
financial help. We've seen these communities that devastated by fire
find themselves searching for answers, insurance companies less than cooperative.
It's a very tough time in southern California. And I
(22:32):
thought it was a triumphant night. And congratulations to iHeart,
to all of the artists involved, and to everyone who
made it happen. It really was something. So is Conway's
in it for? Is you now you'll be through maybe
at some point here in the next human that's I'll
also tell you that there's been a delay in the
trump proofing of California. You know, there was always that
(22:55):
smack talking about how we're gonna we're gonna trump proof
the state. That has taken a pause. I'll tell you
more about that next. Mark Thompson here for John Cobelt
and KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Everybody's been so supportive here, you know, Ray and Eric
and the crew, really good stuff today. Thanks for all
the support. I did want to mention this is kind
of a big deal because there was much made as
you're aware of the fact that California Democrats, who control
Sacramento in the legislature, we're ready to approve a fifty
million dollar basically a fund to anticipated lawsuits against the
(23:43):
Trump administration. It was going to fund legal defenses for
immigrants facing deportation. This is a really high profile effort
when it was announced. But when members of the State
Assembly gathered Yesay morning, the Democrats apparently got into a
private huddle for about forty five minutes and when they
(24:06):
got out they didn't want to vote on the proposal. Yeah,
the State Senate approved the plans last week. Democrats have
said for months that the funding package is urgent, but
apparently there's a delay. A spokesperson for the Democratic Assembly
Speaker Robert Reeves, said that lawmakers need more time. They
(24:30):
need to figure out this sweeping spending freeze that was
attempted earlier this week by the new administration. That's causing
widespread confusion and chaos, even after the federal judge who
reviewed the plan paused it. That was the freeze that
was paused. And now the White House has rescinded the
freeze memo but says that the policies the White House
(24:51):
is saying this behind its proposed funding cuts remain in place.
I'm laughing because it's so utterly confusing that they put
this completely confusing freezing place on Monday. These are the Feds,
these are the new Trump administration. Then it was so
confusing and there was so much pushback that they rescind
(25:12):
the memo. But when asked tobut I say, oh, yeah,
we took the memo back, but the policies that the
memo details, those are still very much in place. So
there is confusion about this. So the Democrats in Sacramento
were saying, well, it's because of that confusion that we
don't want to vote and approve this fund to essentially
handle legal defenses and prosecutions. So it's something of a
(25:37):
mess in Sacramento, at least around this issue. At least
around every other issue. There is no mess in Sacramento.
That's the nice news, right, So this is a to
be continued. And speaking of continuing, ding Dog, when this
show ends, that's right, that's where we crank it up.
(25:58):
The station continues with Tim Conway.
Speaker 9 (26:00):
Yeah, no more than no. No, John cole Belt on
demand at four o'clock. That doesn't work for me. No, No,
you're I stay right here, thank you, buddy. Yeah, hey,
we've got it. I'm monitoring a big plane crash in Philadelphia.
Aircraft reportedly went into a mall. They don't know if
it's a commercial jet, private jet, what kind of jet.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But it seems that we have another disaster. It is
troubling in the extreme. Yeah. They always talking about it
being in the safest way to travel.
Speaker 9 (26:29):
That's right, Yeah, and I feel that way when I'm traveling.
I fall asleep. I let the guys or gals in front.
Hopefully guys I knocked that out for me up there.
I don't worry about it at all. But this is weird,
right that the plane crash in Washington.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Was Thursday, Wednesday, Wednesday.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
Wednesday, and then the plane crash on Friday is in Philadelphia.
Both you know, teams play other less.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
We Oh, I was wondering, what was it? Wow? Kind
of an odd connection though, Wow, you know this is
the kind of insight that I'd hoped to get. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that aviation expert worked out. Yes, she had a really
good concentration. Patrick wil Right, Yeah, he's terrific. I what
you have today.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
I heard you talking about the concert last night with
Eric Sklar, the producer and board op of this program.
And I think the one detail that a lot of
people are leaving out.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I was at the we Are the World.
Speaker 9 (27:33):
I was at that taping, and everybody showed up and
left their ego at the door. They didn't care about
dressing rooms or where they were standing, or how many
people they brought and all, you know, the wardrobe, hair makeup.
They just all showed up to make money for a cause.
And I think a lot of that happened lest.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I think you're right. I mean it's really actually a
really good parallel. It's good energy that is going into it.
And I'd forgotten that you were at the Weird the World.
That's right.
Speaker 9 (27:59):
They they asked everybody, please don't dress the nines, Please
don't show with hair wardrobe, people, make up people. Uh please,
just you know, come as you are, maybe in sweats
or whatever. But let's just all be a family here
and make money for people who really need it. And
one guy shows up and ignored all the rules.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But he's think that was I'll give his nickname the Boss.
Seriously with Springsteen, Yeah Springsteen, he because he reps that
like he does not any makeup or that's why it
was so odd.
Speaker 9 (28:32):
Yeah, but the you know, they were raising money to
feed Africa and after remember you know you'd see those
videos all the time of these poor starving kids in Africa.
But I'm telling you the spread they had for that
taping could have fed half the country for a week.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
Well, I mean you have the continent for a week.
They worked all night and you were driving a limo,
that's right. Yeah, you were a critical part of getting
the performers there. And who was in your lima?
Speaker 9 (29:00):
Well, I was driving Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson, Well, wait
a minute to the Shrine Auditorium with a couple of
other guys for the big event. But on the way
from the Shrine Auditorium to Librea, the studios there, the
old Librea and Sunset Studios. I was driving his lawyer,
(29:20):
so I mean I drove him earlier. I drove Michael
Jackson several times, but technically I didn't drop him off there.
I dropped him off of the shrine and then somebody
else in our Limo group.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Right, Okay. I appreciate that you owned the specific so
you didn't want to like rep that you had actually
taken him to that particular session, but you'd taken him
in many other sessions.
Speaker 9 (29:39):
And I was, you know, I was twenty one, twenty
two years old, blonde, in pretty good shape. So I
think they wanted they didn't want lawsuits, so they wanted
to keep him away from I see.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Did he address you by name?
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Ever?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Did he know your name? He did, but I don't know.
Speaker 9 (29:56):
I shouldn't say I know he did not I know
his mom did everybody in the family knew my name
because I drove them a lot. I drive him to
birthday parties. I drove her to work. I think is
their seventieth birthday party to Beverly Hills. She's a very
nice lady. Well that's really great. I just love that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It was a good time.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
So Alex Stone is coming on today, then Alex Michaelson,
Peter Greenberg, a travel detective, and then we'll talk to
him and also Jason Slacko about real estate, what's going
on with the insurance companies with all these fires.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The Conways Show, there's no stopping him. Here we go.
I have a great weekend, everybody. If you get a minute,
you can check out my show. It's on YouTube. It's
called The Mark Thompson Show. It's a lot of stuff,
and subscribe and yeah it's free. That's about the best
thing I can say for all. Right, Conway next, Thanks everyone,
Thanks again to Eric and all and until next time.
(30:51):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on five AM
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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